---
title: "Introduction"
sidebarTitle: "Introduction"
---

In this tutorial we are going to use Odigos for generating distributed traces for a microservices-based application written in Go, Java, Python, .NET and Node.js.

We are going to deploy the application in a Kubernetes cluster and use [Jaeger](https://www.jaegertracing.io/) as the backend for storing and visualizing the traces.

<Info>
 This guide is designed for:

 - IT professionals with experience in system administration or DevOps
 - Software engineers familiar with containerization and Kubernetes concepts
 - Anyone comfortable with command-line interfaces and basic cloud infrastructure 

 If you're new to these concepts or prefer a more detailed, step-by-step approach, we recommend starting with our [Beginner's Guide to Odigos Installation](https://docs.odigos.io/quickstart/installation-guide-for-beginners).

</Info>

## Preparing the environment

### Creating a Kubernetes cluster

This first step is to create a Kubernetes cluster.
We recommend using [kind](https://kind.sigs.k8s.io/) or [minikube](https://minikube.sigs.k8s.io/docs/) for trying Odigos out in a local environment.

<Warning>
**Mac users**: please avoid using Docker Desktop built-in Kubernetes cluster as it [does not](https://docs.docker.com/storage/bind-mounts/#configure-bind-propagation) support bind propagation.
</Warning>

Create a new local Kubernetes cluster, by running the following command:

<Tabs>
  <Tab title="Kind">
  ```bash
  kind create cluster
  ```
  </Tab>
  <Tab title="Minikube">
  ```bash
  minikube start
  ```
  </Tab>
</Tabs>

### Deploying the target application

We are going to install a [demo application](https://github.com/odigos-io/simple-demo) that consists of 6 microservices written in Java, Go, Python, Node.js, .NET and PHP.

<Frame>
    <img src="/images/demo_architecture.png" alt="Architecture of demo application" />
</Frame>

Deploy the application using the following command:

```bash
kubectl apply -f https://raw.githubusercontent.com/odigos-io/simple-demo/main/kubernetes/deployment.yaml
```

### Deploying Jaeger

Jaeger is a popular open source distributed tracing backend. We are going to use it for storing and visualizing the traces generated by Odigos.

Install Jaeger using the following command:

```bash
kubectl apply -f https://raw.githubusercontent.com/odigos-io/simple-demo/main/kubernetes/jaeger.yaml
```

### Waiting for the applications to start

Before moving to the next step, make sure that the application pods and Jaeger pods are running, this may take a few minutes.
```bash
kubectl wait --for=condition=available --timeout=300s deployment --all --all-namespaces
```

<Frame>
  <img src="/images/pods_ready.png" alt="Deployments Ready" />
</Frame>
